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Letters to the Editor
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Veterinary medicines
A rather silly bit of legislation
From Mr C. Goalen, MRPharmS
It was good to see the Veterinary Pharmacist newsletter circulated with
The Journal on 5 March. It was a breath of fresh air taking us away from
the treadmill of the NHS, but there was one item of concern in the article “Comments
on the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2005 consultation document” (pV2).
It is the intention to abolish the supply by post of POM-V and POM-VPM
medicines. Why are these categories of POM going to be treated differently
from human POMs? This new legislation presumably means that an elderly
woman, say, who is staying with her daughter, could have her repeat levothyroxine
posted to her but she would have either to visit or send a friend to
collect her dog’s repeat levothyroxine. Why? There is no logic
to it. It appears to be a device for keeping veterinary dispensing away
from the pharmacy and could be thought of as anti-competitive.
To abolish supply by post is a harsh blow to those specialist veterinary
pharmacies that run mail order dispensing services and I am surprised
that neither yourself nor the Veterinary Pharmacists Group (VPG) picked
it up or felt it worth commenting upon. Pharmacists treat all medicines
with the utmost care and petty restrictions like this do not increase
this care but detract from it. Veterinary pharmacy needs all the support
it can get for in many ways it is just a fledgling. How can specialist
pharmacies grow and improve without a large catchment area? Veterinary
prescriptions are thin on the ground.
The other effect of this legislation will be on clients, who will find
their veterinary medicine bills climbing as the competition for dispensing
is reduced. I would hope that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the
VPG are actively involved in preventing this rather silly bit of legislation
from happening.
Clive Goalen
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal